Air Conditioning Equipment Mechanic

Summary

Performs skilled installation, operation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair of hospital HVAC/R equipment. Work ensures consistent environmental conditions needed to support safe patient care and clinical operations, including temperature, humidity, filtration, and pressurization requirements. Assignments include hospital AHUs/ERUs, chilled-water systems, heating equipment, refrigeration units and building automation controls under the guidance of senior mechanics or engineers.

Duties

• Your duties can include but are not limited to the following: Central Plant Equipment Maintenance: Performs skilled work on chillers up to large-tonnage hospital equipment, pumps, cooling towers, heat exchangers, and condenser water systems. Troubleshoots basic refrigerant circuit faults, sensor issues, and component malfunctions. Airside Distribution and Clinical Ventilation Support: Maintains and repairs hospital AHUs and ERUs including filters (HEPA where installed), coils, belts, motors, dampers, and drain systems. Refrigeration and Cold Storage Systems: Installs, maintains, and repairs refrigeration systems including coolers, freezers, ice machines, and water fountains. Performs component-level replacement work such as motors, fans, valves, coils, and compressors under established procedures. Preventive Maintenance, Testing, and Documentation: Conducts routine preventive and predictive maintenance following established schedules and procedures. Performs basic functional tests on HVAC/R systems, documents readings, identifies routine deficiencies, and records corrective actions in Maximo CMMS. Supports commissioning and TAB activities by collecting data, operating equipment during tests, and performing minor adjustments under guidance. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:00am - 3:30PM (Subject to change based on the needs of the agency) Position Description Title/PD#: Air Conditioning Equipment Mechanic/PD04853A Physical Efforts: Work requires regular and sustained physical effort including standing, walking, climbing ladders, bending, kneeling, reaching, and working in awkward or confined positions. The mechanic frequently lifts, carries, or positions items such as tools, test instruments, HVAC/R components, motors, belts, coils, and refrigerant cylinders weighing up to 50 pounds, and occasionally more with assistance. Physical exertion occurs throughout the workday and can involve pushing, pulling, and maneuvering heavy or awkward components during installations, adjustments, or repairs. Tasks may require prolonged periods of troubleshooting or testing systems in physically demanding environments such as rooftops or interstitial spaces. Muscular strain can occur due to repetitive work, extended kneeling, climbing, and handling of heavy materials. Working conditions: Work is performed in a variety of hospital environments including mechanical rooms, rooftops, interstitial spaces, laboratories, cold rooms, and occupied patient-care areas. The mechanic is frequently exposed to noise, vibration, heat, cold, chemicals, refrigerants, moving machinery, electrical hazards, and poorly ventilated or confined workspaces. Some work occurs in sensitive clinical environments requiring adherence to infection-control protocols and use of specialized PPE. Work conditions may present risks such as burns, refrigerant exposure, electrical contact, slips, trips, falls, or contact with contaminants. Exposure is regular and may be prolonged depending on the nature of maintenance or repair tasks. The mechanic must use protective equipment such as gloves, safety glasses, respirators, hearing protection, and other gear, and must follow safe trade practices and facility safety procedures (including LOTO and VA/OSHA requirements) to prevent injury and maintain a safe work environment.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. EXPERIENCE: A specific length of training and experience is not required, but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standards. SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligibles are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements: Equipment Assembly, Installation, Repair Interpret Instructions, Specifications (includes blueprint reading) Materials Technical Practices Troubleshooting Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment Without more than normal supervision Preferred Experience: EPA 608 Universal License and at least two years experience in HVAC. Be familiar with commercial HVAC equipment and at least one year of experience with refrigeration. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Requirements

U.S. Citizenship; non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation Pre-employment physical required. Selective Services Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Driver's License: A current, valid state-issued Driver's License is required for this position. NOTE: We cannot accept photographs, therefore; please do not submit a copy of your license with your application package. If an interview is requested, you will be required to provide a copy of your current, valid state-issued Driver's License.

How to apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 09/10/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13052388. 1. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. 2. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. You may check the status of your application at any time by logging into your USA Jobs account and clicking on Applications. Information regarding your application status can be found in the USAJobs Help Center. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.